Why write an opinion editorial instead of an essay as a final assignment?

While the greatest communication tool of the historian or the literary critic is the essay, for communicators it is the opinion editorial.
This is the piece which may be published in a newspaper that gives the event/issue/cause you are representing a fair representation in
the media. In an op-ed piece, you must have one clear, thesis that you want to get across. You then back it up with verifiable facts.
This is a very useful tool for interacting with the media to have under your belt, even if you do not continue as a professional
communicator.

Your Op-Ed Piece

You will write an op-ed piece expressing a thesis criticizing one or two of the articles from Introduction to Communication, 2nd
Edition (Sévigny). You will write it from the point of view of one of the following authors: Innis, McLuhan, Pinker, Le Bon, Dornan,
Lakoff, Lasch, Hebdige or Conquergood. This means that you will pretend that you are one of these thinkers and write the assignment
from their perspective. This means you have to be explicit in your comments and opinions – you MUST relate them to the thinker that
you are representing. USE THE MAIN THEORETICAL POINT OF THE THINKER YOU HAVE CHOSEN TO REPRESENT. DO
NOT USE MINOR POINTS.
 Comments Check Grade
(0-20)
Do you have one clean, simple
point that is easily identified at
the beginning of your piece?
Does your op-ed piece have
flow from line to line and
paragraph to paragraph?
Is the length appropriate to the
thesis statement you have
chosen?
Have you kept sentences short?
Have you used the active voice
properly? Have you avoided
clichés?
Have you written for an
educated, but not necessarily
academic audience? That is,
have you avoided jargon, vague
statements and overly
intellectual tone?
Have you presented “both
sides” of the issue you are
discussing?
Have you kept a clear,
persuasive tone throughout the
op-ed piece? Have you avoided
ranting, being shrill or too
familiar?
Have you made effective use of
humour?
Have you made effective use of
analogy and metaphor?
Have you personalized the op-
ed piece to really represent the
thinker whose ideas you are
representing?
OVERALL GRADE OUT OF 20